Those who get a lot of referred business are usually good at their job – AND clients know it.

Their clients KNOW, understand and appreciate the service and its benefits, believe they are given good value for money and they also TRUST and LIKE the person that deals with them or provides the service to the extent that they want to help them.

KNOW, TRUST & LIKE are the attributes that need to be improved in order to get lots of quality referrals. more…

Those that don’t get a lot of referred business EITHER have a low level of KNOW, TRUST AND LIKE, unbelievably don’t ask for referrals, or both. If it’s mainly due to not asking; this is relatively easy to fix, but it must be done properly and consistently as a natural procedure and a culture developed and honed within the firm. Management needs to embrace it as a business system.

Client facing staff need to be aware that in order to gain lots of quality referrals they need to be generally liked, valued and trusted by their clients and thus should WORK on these aspects – with SINCERITY. They also need to CARE about their clients again with sincerity, and clients need to FEEL it.

Asking for referrals is NOT begging and should never be done in desperation. Clients need to be made aware of the benefits to THEM that you use Referral Marketing Systems. They should ultimately feel they WANT to refer quite happily, they should want to see you and your firm continue to prosper.

The best time to ask a client for a referral is just after you’ve concluded some work particularly just after they thank you; at this point they’re feeling very happy with their decision and suitably softened for your appeal.

A referral is only a referral if you have permission to quote the referrer’s name to them and giving thanks for referrals is a must; remembering personal details (write them down somewhere) to chat about will help build rapport each time you talk. A quick note on building rapport – it is not something confined to the first 10 minutes of a meeting; it is something you should do continuously. Business discussion can become tedious and dry and it helps to dilute that with normal human banter.

Alexander Bullivant Roxbourne Marketing Strategies

Also see post on about Referrals From External Connections

A COI is ideally a client who knows your firm and at least one person in it very well and trusts and respects what you do and is confident enough to recommend you often and without hesitation.

The reason they are like this is a combination of their character – “they are just naturally like that”, and their social status or power status at work. COIs need to be identified within your client-base and treated very well for obvious reasons. More…

Other COI in the local area that are not yet clients need to be identified, researched and carefully approached. These could be heads of Chambers of Commerce, managers of large clubs, the Major, local MPs, council executives and other public sector leaders, managers of the biggest firms in the area, newspaper and magazine editors, heads of influential business groups or associations, etc. A brain storming session is needed to build a list then ascertain why a person would be useful to develop a relationship with, and how you go about it.

Ideally you want these COI as clients and to get regular referrals from them – at the very least they need to know all about your firm and services and see you in a favourable light.

If in the course of conversations with a client, it transpires that they need help with something or they need a contact, e.g. to help get planning permission, raise funds, gain support for a new venture or influence authority, etc – then it clearly comes in handy if you can whip out your black book of COI contacts and other connections that you can introduce. You will be highly appreciated and remembered for when it comes to asking for referrals or recommendations in return.

Alexander Bullivant www.roxbourne.com

See our other blogs on Referral Marketing

Getting leads from Colleagues, Internal Business Referrals,  Inter-departmental Referring or Cross-selling, whatever you call it – either way you’re maximising the value of your clients. Here’s some simple tips – but be aware of the common problems.

This post is for any firm or individual that has clients,  rather than customers. It follows on from our other blogs on Referral Marketing and from info on our main website. Referral Marketing is the best business development strategy there is for Service Providers…

Some firms are good at inter-departmental referring others are not; either way your strategy for dealing with this should be included in your overall Marketing Plan.

Human nature needs to be used to your advantage rather than disadvantage.

There will be…

• “What’s in it for me?”
• “I don’t rate them”
• “I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting anyone else deal with my client”
• “I’ve heard bad things about their department…”

All these barriers need to be recognised, suitably torn down and replaced with a nice combination of warm loyal camaraderie and hard company policy.

Strong leadership and management is needed here to ensure colleagues share their clients where necessary and always look for opportunities for cross-selling. Regular Internal networking meetings, building closer internal relationships and integrating a suitable remuneration policy is crucial. How about social occasions for staff and selected clients mixed in?

KNOW, TRUST and LIKE also comes into play with regard to internal referrals too. (See previous referral marketing posts.) That’s why work colleagues need to socialise and network more.

Give Roxbourne a call and find out how much we could help you build your firm.

Alexander Bullivant Roxbourne Marketing Designers

Ask about our free initial marketing consultation

Referral Marketing is the best business development strategy there is for Service Providers…

…Accountants, Financial Advisers, Solicitors, Dentists, Designers, Architects, Plastic Surgeons, Builders, Vets, IT Services, Website Designers, Stylists, Trainers, Consultants, Printers, Landscape Gardeners, Brokers, etc.

Other service providers and professions other than your own have clients that may also need your services; your clients might also need their services. So it makes perfect sense to be proactive about it. Working more holistically and referring your clients to other carefully selected providers and professionals will compliment your own offering, bringing ‘added value services’ that your clients will appreciate and remember you for. In return the service providers and professionals are also more inclined to refer their clients to you, which is the main objective.

Whatever service you provide, the backbone of building your business is client acquisition and retention, one way to do this is to understand that there is a growing need to be more holistic. This requires knowledge of some other local service providers and professionals and their respective complimentary expertise. Building relationships and respectful trust with local firms and their individuals, getting to know how they operate and exactly what they can do – will help you spot opportunities for them. In the spirit of reciprocity they will want to refer back in order to keep you referring to them and to stay in ‘the reciprocal team of complimentary services’, with all its benefits.

EXAMPLE :- As an Accountant it makes perfect sense to build up good connections within Law, Financial Services and Risk Management, Banking, etc. And those fellow professionals should clearly seek out Accountants and Tax Advisers to compliment their own services too.

When the relationship with your external complimentary connections is managed properly it will bring new clients your way – either as direct referrals back again or via your clients recommending your more encompassing services. Joint effort projects bring added value services to each profession – building greater client satisfaction and thus greater loyalty, both of which need to be in place for your existing clients to recommend your services to others.

How you find other complimentary service providers depends on where you are now, you may know them and work with them already but maybe you both need to be more proactive. You may wish to be more analytical about it and research all the relevant local firms and their services.

Using a service level agreement (SLA) shows professionalism as it will state how you promise to look after their clients and what they can expect in regard to duty of care, procedures and service, etc. This builds trust also. Keeping a regularly updated database of referred clients and progress is a must. This is used to keep all parties informed and as a discussion document at regular review meetings. Approaching and building relationships with other service providers and professionals must be done carefully, with research, patience, determination and a Win/Win attitude. You have a lot to offer the right firms and in return you have a lot to gain from them, get it wrong and the doors will shut for a long time.

Alexander Bullivant www.roxbourne.com

See our other blogs on Referral Marketing

This blog is for any firm or individual that has clients and a client base, rather than customers. It follows on from our other blogs on Referral Marketing and from info on our main website. Referral Marketing is the best business development strategy there is for Service Providers…

Simple is best – it’s easier to ask with just one sentence, it’s clearly faster and efficient and less likely to be left out of a meeting than a long rehearsed speech on why you want referrals and how the system benefits the client, etc. However, you need to memorise a longer set of effective phrases when you come up against resistance to referral giving.

I have a 300 word speech from years ago written by an American referral marketing guru – it’s over the top but the core principles contained within it can hardly be argued with. When resistance occurs a better set of phrases is needed based on the core principles, just asking is NOT  insufficient.

Clients need to know why you work a referral system and how it benefits them in many ways, and why you would like them to refer people they know to you. Learning stock phrases and how to handle objections in a non-confrontational way is the key. This needs to be learnt, it should be embedded, tested and analysed on an on-going basis. The benefits will soon be realised. Those that become good at it will inspire and coach others eventually.

Thanking Clients for Every Referral

Remember a nice bottle of something as a thank you for each referral. How about posting some of your branded merchandise to the client’s place of work too. A great idea is a coffee mug with your company name, what you do well, your web address and phone number on it and importantly the words THANK YOU written on the other side – just an idea. Point is, their work colleagues will see it and it will not be thrown away.

Remember the attributes discussed in previous posts – KNOW, TRUST AND LIKE – if these are in place objections and hesitations will rarely happen.

Alexander Bullivant Roxbourne Referral Marketing Strategies

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